Right Now! benefit lines up awesome bill to fight climate change

Summer Forest is a great name for an environmental activist and she has no problem fighting for what she believes in. The We Are Music founder’s indefatigable devotion led her to organize Right Now! — an event that merges hot Boston music acts, an interactive panel, and the fine spirits from around the northeast this Saturday at Brooklyn Boulders in Somerville. All proceeds will go to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan that devastated the Philippines late last year.

One could initially write off Forest as a precarious pollyanna, who is so blinded by her own optimism that she can’t see how much of an uphill battle confronting climate change truly will be. But during our conversation, this notion is proven completely false: she is refreshingly down to earth.

“There’s just so much to be done in the world,” she says. “The truth of the matter is, we all live on one planet and the planet is in danger. Instead of being depressed about it or pretending it isn’t happening, we need to mobilize a movement.”

And said movement couldn’t come equipped with a better soundtrack. Bearstronaut, Escort, and DJ Kon are all scheduled to perform at Right Now! In fact, those acts were on board from the very beginning. Forest says that this was strategic, not happenstance.

“You know, if you build it they will come — and they’ve been coming,” she says. “If you want to build a powerful vehicle for climate change, you have to go for what young people believe in — what they live in. And a lot of us live in music.”

Despite the fact that We Are Music specializes in events, Forest says she still can’t believe how well everything for Right Now! came together.

“This really is a production miracle. I’m awestruck over what got accomplished in such a short time frame. People gave what they could: their time, their spaces, their energy. It says a lot about the greater Boston community.” Yet some of her signature optimism manages to shine through by the end of the interview. “I’ve actually had good karma about the event from the get-go.”